Liquid metal embrittlement is a phenomenon where a normally ductile solid metal experiences a severe loss of ductility and fails in a brittle manner when wetted by a specific liquid metal while under tensile stress. The failure is often catastrophic and rapid. The mechanism involves the liquid metal atoms adsorbing at a crack tip, which reduces the cohesive strength of the solid’s atomic bonds.
For LME to occur, several conditions must be met: the presence of a tensile stress, intimate contact between the solid and liquid metals, and a specific metallurgical pairing. A classic and dramatic example is the embrittlement of aluminum by liquid gallium. A small drop of gallium on an aluminum part under stress can cause it to fracture almost instantly. The technical novelty of understanding LME was the recognition that fracture could be driven by a surface energy phenomenon rather than bulk material properties alone. The liquid metal atoms effectively ‘unzip’ the atomic bonds at the crack tip by lowering the energy required for crack propagation.
液态金属微环境 (LME) 的严重程度取决于温度、应力水平以及特定的固液金属对等因素。两种金属之间的溶解度是一个关键因素；互溶度低的系统通常极易受到影响。历史上，镀锌钢框架等结构中的意外故障，或水银温度计部件的破裂，后来都被归咎于 LME。这些知识成为工程设计中材料选择和兼容性评估的基础，尤其是在航空航天和核能领域，因为这些领域中的异种金属通常彼此靠近。
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